UNH men settle for tie with BC

DOVER — After scoring four goals in its previous three games combined, the University of New Hampshire hockey team emerged from its offensive slump Sunday against Boston College.

Although the outburst didn’t result in a win, it was progress. The Hockey East rivals skated to a 4-4, overtime tie at Conte Forum.

Despite picking up a point on the road against a quality opponent, the Wildcats are winless in their last four games (0-2-2).

“There aren’t many times you get to feel good about a tie,” said UNH coach Dick Umile, whose club hadn’t scored four goals in a game since a 6-2 win over Merrimack on Jan. 26 at Manchester’s Verizon Wireless Arena.

No. 5 UNH is now 16-8-4 overall and 11-7-3 in the league while fourth-ranked BC is 17-7-2 and 12-6-2. The Eagles were coming off their fourth consecutive Beanpot title last Monday.

The teams finished the season series 1-1-1. BC had won the season series with UNH in each of the previous three years.

“I thought we battled hard and played smart and found a way to score goals,” Umile said. “We’ve been in a little bit of a drought. The guys simplified things I think and got the puck to the crease.”

Sophomore forward Grayson Downing finished with a goal and an assist for UNH, including a wraparound that tied the score at 3 just 1:15 into the third period. It was his team-leading 12th goal of the season.

“It would have been nice to keep them from scoring,” Downing said, “but it was nice to put four on the board.”

The Wildcats went ahead 4-3 on a goal by Matt Willows at 7:54 of the third, but gave it right back when BC’s Bill Arnold scored seven seconds later to knot the game for the fourth time.

“I was disappointed we didn’t win it,” Umile said. “We scored to go ahead and they came right back and scored on the next shift. But the guys stayed with it.”

Freshman defenseman Brett Pesce set up Willows’ goal when he intercepted a clearing pass at the right point.

“It was frustrating,” Downing said. “You finally get a lead and you give the momentum right back. But we didn’t fall apart. When something like that happens it’s kind of deflating, but we just kept going and kept pushing.”

Freshman Dan Correale also had a goal and an assist. He scored 34 seconds into the second period to give UNH its first lead at 2-1.

Trailing 1-0, the Wildcats scored in the final minute of the first period on a power-play goal by defenseman Eric Knodel, whose shot from center ice snuck under the pad of BC goalie Parker Milner.

Downing assisted on that goal as did Trevor van Riemsdyk.

The Wildcats led by scores of 2-1 and 4-3 while the Eagles held leads of 1-0 and 3-2.

“It was a pretty good game,” Umile said. “Up and down. Back and forth. We gave up a couple of goals on the penalty kill, but we killed a real important one at the end of the game.”

UNH went 1 for 7 on the power play. The Eagles were 2 for 5 with the man advantage, with both power-play goals coming in the second period to transform a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead heading into the third period.

The Wildcats killed off a late penalty and pressured the BC end in overtime to no avail. UNH outshot the Eagles 33-26, including 3-2 in OT. UNH goalie Casey DeSmith made 22 saves.

“I thought we played a solid game,” Umile said. “We had a chance to win it at the end in overtime, but we didn’t score. We had some good looks.”

With six games left in the regular season, UNH sits in third place in Hockey East with 25 points, two points behind league-leading Merrimack and one behind BC. Merrimack and Providence tied Sunday, 2-2.

Boston University and Providence are tied for fourth. Three points separate first place from fifth. UMass-Lowell is sixth with 22 points.

“We played hard and we played fast,” Downing said, “the way you need to play when it comes to playoff hockey. It’s not the result we wanted, but if we play like this more often we’re going to win some games.”

UNH has a two-game series at Vermont next weekend before returning home for the final four games of the regular season against Massachusetts and Maine.

Vermont is coming off a weekend sweep of Northeastern in Boston.

“I was pleased with the effort,” Umile said of Sunday’s game. “It’s an important point. It’s not going to hurt us and it allows us to stay in the hunt.”